I am traveling throughout Europe and North Africa to call attention and promote interest by public and private actors in Europe and MENA countries and foster convergence of interests and funds on ARTES initiative for an Africa – Europe cooperation in the field of bio economy.

Last June ARTES has signed a partnership agreement with Tunisian Universities and companies which aims at introducing a new growth paradigm through piloting a research driven cluster start up focused on bio economy, in fragile peripheral regions, such as Gafsa and Kasserine, in the larger horizon of a Mediterranean stabilisation and cooperation strategy.

This revolutionary approach envisages green technology and art as the engine for an accelerated job and enterprise creation initiative in the peripheral landlocked regions of Gafsa and Kasserine.

If we succeed in the implementation, it would have real positive repercussions on employment, on economic development and on innovation in these areas, but it needs a wise awareness raising campaign to mobilise the key actors. Without local partners and institutions sharing our view and our efforts, it would be impossible to implement concrete solutions and have success in the long term.

To this aim, on the 2nd of December I visit Tunisia for the third time.

Wednesday 3nd, Sousse

I arrive at Tunis Carthage around noon and the driver bring me straight to Sousse, where I meet Marzio Maiocchi, president of ATI Engineering and my assistant, Leonardo Franceschi, who’s staying in Tunisia for two months to follow more closely the current projects of Artes, in Tunisia. We have few hours to brief and to prepare my speech for the following day. I have been invited to speak to the Forum de Convergeance (http://site.forumeniso.com/), an important annual meeting organised by ENISo (the National Institute of Engineers of Sousse) under the leadership of Zoubeir Tourki, the young and charismatic director of the school.

Under the motto: to be wired or not to be, the forum is aimed at connecting with each other representatives of institutions, education and enterprises from within and outside the country,such as Artes, ATi Engineering, ALTAIR and many others.

ENISo is located in a modern building equipped with laboratories and an incubator space which hosts more than 130 spin offs. A leading Tunisian institute in the field of robotics, mechatronics, and automation is the preferred destination of bright and committed students who are prepared to take the lead of their country.

The school is eager to gain international attention and to acquire innovative know-how, and the director is thus very inclined to collaborate with us in our research project on the fibre of ginestra (Spartium Junceum) (http://www.artes-research.net/portfolio-articoli/ginextra/). ENISO will contribute to the “scale-up” of the pilot biorafinery plant for the treatment of the ‘Ginestra’ in close cooperation with ATI Engineering putting at the disposal of the ARTES international team of researchers their well equipped laboratories and a duly selected team of students and professors specialised in robotics and mecatronics. The partnership would give us the chance to enter in the Tunisian market and investigate the possibility to apply our patented technology to the local plant of Alfa. We present the project in our stand and I make my speech, in front of crowded audience and at the presence of the Minister of Higher Education, Research and ICT and the Ambassador of Germany in Tunisia.

Thursday 4rd, Monastir

The day after we participate to the seminar of the European project SUSTEXNET (http://sustexnet.eu/), organised by our Tunisian partner Cettex, in the luxurious hotel and spa Thalassa.

The event is addressed to the Tunisian Textile community of entrepreneurs to present the Comparative Analysis of the textile and apparel industry in the SUSTEXNET partners countries (Italy, Egypt, Spain and Tunisia) (http://goo.gl/IYO2mH). The event is aimed at giving start to the direct company studies and interventions phase, envisaged by the European project.

It is a unique occasion for me to listen to the voice of Tunisian entrepreneurs who take active part to the event and give me a clear and real picture of the industry needs and perspectives. Development of competences of employees at any level emerges to be a crucial needs and as the coordinator of the comparative study and a specialist in human capital development and training I am invited to give my point of view and to visit the companies’ facilities and give support.

Friday 5th, Sousse

On Friday, we take a break from the meetings, working from home and preparing the travel to Gafsa to meet our partners at the Higher Institute of Arts and Crafts. We need to discuss the progress of the agreement signed and prepare a study visits of nzyme4future team of experts , scheduled January 2015.

Saturday 6th, Gafsa

We start our journey on Saturday before dawn, after only few hours sleep, and we head to the hinterland of Tunisia on a narrowed road. As the sun raises, the landscape, slowly begin to emerge from the gloom. The panorama is vast and flat and scattered with olive plantations, which luxuriantly spring out of the arid land. The environment changes once we pass the governorate of Keirouan. The air gets filled with sand and dust, giving everything around us the appearance of being abandoned. Towns becomes rarer and traffic less heavy. The landscape is now open and beautiful, interrupted only by small buildings aggregations.

We arrive at Gafsa at 10 A.M. sharp and, after little difficulties, we find ISAM, the Higher Institute of Artes and Crafts, where we have a meeting with the director Dr. Amine Khadimallah. He is young and welcoming and he puts us at ease after the long trip. Imen Said, the coordinator of the Tunisian Piloting Team of the agreement, is connecting via Skype from Paris, while taking part to an international research programme.

We discuss critical aspects for the success of the programme. They confirm the great interest that our project has raised and the firm belief of its importance for the territory. They commit to involve all key actors and primarily students, women, entrepreneurs of all sectors, the whole local community and duly prepare the January study visit.

We leave Gafsa with the sensation of being now in the right direction.

On the way back, we take a break in one of the many “Restaurant de campaigne”, where they serve lamb meat, grilled at the moment, and delicious traditional Tunisian sauce with bread. A simple meal in a rustic environment that gives us a real taste of Tunisia.

Monday 8th, Tunis

On Monday we travel from Sousse to Tunisi, to meet Mr. Patrick Berckmans, Minister Consellor at the EU delegation in Tunisia and Head of the Section for Governance, Social Development and Sustainable. My visit in Brussels in the previous weeks and my meetings with the heads of Units at Europe Aid are now completed by this visit to the Tunisian Delegation. The meeting is constructive and it paves the way for the next study visit in January. The support of EU is extremely important for our programme, we need that the EU representatives in Tunisia, the Multilateral Banks, the National Governmental Institutions, the Business and scientific world at national level, the key leaders of civil society and the press are all informed, and that they understand, share and support the partners signatories of the ‘GAFSA AGREEMENT’.

We need to walk in the same direction if we want to progress.

I leave Tunisia the day after, persuaded that in few days, an hard successful work has been done.

An intense red and golden sky accompany my departure! Come back soon to Tunisia, it seems to invite me!

I set out from Bologna, in 2 minutes I prepare my luggage, as usual, while I’m coordinating our teams in Bologna and Bujumbura to prepare the submission. We want to be shortlisted for the assistance of Burundian authorities in drafting the national energy efficiency plan. The project is financed by the European Union and the deadline is in one day, the 19th of June, at 11 a.m. The schedule is so tight that I have to be on the phone until the plane takes off.

At the airport of Tunis, two persons I met in my last visit in Tunisia are expecting me: Jamila, researcher at INAT (Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie) and Samira Missaoui, a very talented textile artist. I need to be aware of her work if I really want to explore the possibility to introduce the Alliance model in pilot regions of Tunisia. Art, artisanship and design can reach an important status, and they should, but in order to achieve this result it is vital to create networks among actors, and first of all among women.

June 19th, on the road to Gafsa ( قفصة )

It is 5 a.m.; we need to leave early from Monastir to be at the University of Gafsa to review and sign the framework agreement that would start the process of transfer and adaptation of the Alliance and n4f models in this region.

I keep following and supervising the submission of the application in Bujumbura, but I do not want to miss the experience of travelling. We manage to make the delivery at 10.59: just on time. Now, we just have to wait for the outcome.

I finally turn my tired eyes away from the screen of my laptop and I start watching the bustle on the streets. I see factories of Benetton and the Miroglio passing by, placed in the middle of non-urbanised territories. These industrial sites communicate indifference, alienation and arrogance towards everything outside the walls of the factories. I wonder about the social model introduced by Olivetti, at the beginning of last century. I think … about our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I ask a question to Marzio, who’s travelling with me:

“How is that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not set up a forum with the leaders of the dozens of Italian companies delocalising in Tunisia, in order to study together possible synergies with the foreign policies of development aid?”

It is extremely hot that morning and we take a break in a rest stop, well equipped, as usual. We arrive in Gafsa on time and we find Imen Said waiting for us. She is professor of the faculty of sciences, appointed by the dean to coordinate the final drafting and signing of the agreement.

June 19th in Gafsa

After a short break, we spend the afternoon visiting Gafsa: archaeology and art crafts. We visit the center of ONA (Office National de l’Artisanat) Direction du développement des compétences.

Afterwards we take part to the closing ceremony of the academic year at the ‘Institut Supérieur des Arts et Métiers de GAFSA”. We spend the evening to acquaint ourselves with Fatma, with whom we have cooperated to create a network of international specialists in the field of water governance. Fatma was born in Turin and she can perfectly speak Italian. Her father is a Tunisian engineer belonging to one of the most ancient families of the country, her mother is from Turin and she has chosen to stay at the heart of this country, she is fluent in Arabic and French. She is a wonderful example of the richness that comes from the intersection of cultures and traditions of our Mediterranean. Imen is with us. We talk about recent and remote history, the role of women in the future we are hoping for, and about our joint projects for Gafsa and Kasserine. In order to intervene in a territory you need, gently and respectfully, to approach its soul.

Upon my arrival at the Carthage airport in Tunis, I am welcomed by Marzio Maiocchi, the founder of ATI ENGINEERING, a company that specialises in management and business start-up. Maiocchi who was previously an important player in the Alliance Project, in Calabria, has invited me to discover this new Tunisia with the hope that it will become an example for other Nations in the Mediterranean Sea by playing the role of trait d’union among continents situated on the Mediterranean shores.

I have come primarily to meet the artist and artisan women of the inland, but also to make acquaintance with the scientific world, the Administrators of Universities and the Government executives. The communities of the Governorates of Kasserine, Gafsa, Kairouan, Zaghouan have a ancient tradition of crafting art out of a Mediterranean shrub, called Alfa or Stippa Tenacissima, which they do not want to lose.

Alfa grows in dry, remote regions in the South-West of Tunisia, up to the Algerian border, covering more than 4 million hectares. In the rural communities it is appreciated as a barrier against desertification and it has historically been used as fibre to create baskets, wickers and, more recently, paper pulp. The processes adopted by these traditional artisans have a high environmental impact, consuming scarce water and energy resources.

My pioneering action for the valorisation of the Spartium Junceum, which combines art and “green” frontier technologies, could be of use in this territory. In fact, the Spartium Junceum, grows on arid and rocky terrains and has been known since ancient times by the Mediterranean populations.

On our way to Monastir (المـنسـتير), where I was hosted overnight by Marzio, we attended our first meeting with theDean of the Athenaeum of Monastir, Prof. Abdalwheb DOGUI.

I wrote to him before my arrival to explain the reason for my travels: to find partners who would help the Artes Institute to attract public and private investments in North Africa and Sub Saharian Africa with thegoal of creating and reinforcing a solid infrastructural network of industrial research entities. Such research entities would focus on fields of knowledge that would guarantee economic growth of the country, preserve natural and environmental resources, and allow the country to become a leading actor in the bio-economy era.

I have been conducting this task for more than a decade and, starting a few years ago, I could count on the support of the network, nzymes4future, which gathers together European Laboratories, Research Centres and Universities leaders in the field of green, industrial and environmental biotechnologies.

The main objective is to develop programs that would allow Mediterranean and Sub Saharan countries to become aware counterparts to Multilateral Funds and be able to negotiate the allocation of resources according to the African continent’s vision of sustainable development. Ultimately our goal is to achieve the valorisation of natural and cultural original resources of the territory, especially of inland and rural areas.

Although it was not easy to find time to meet within our full schedules, both Prof. DOGUI and I understood the importance of this opportunity. We met in Sousse (سوسة) in an informal atmosphere and we got straight to the point, coming to a quick understanding. We concluded the meeting with the intention of implementing the project idea to create synergy between the work already done in Tunisia and the networks mobilised by Artes in the field of bio-economy.

We arrived very late at Villa Abir; the Mediterranean Sea and the elegant environment calmed and reenergised me.

THE TRAVEL FROM MONASTIR, TOWARDS THE INLAND

The trip towards the inland regions starts on Tuesday April 22nd at 6,30 am. We move from Villa Abir, our base in Monastir to Kairouan (القيروان‎), around 73 km south-west, which is the fourth among Islam sacred cities, known for the carpet craft and the quality of its olives. After another 100 Km we arrive at Sbeitla ( سبيطلة), an impressive memorial of the common roots shared by the different regions that face the Mediterranean Sea.

Afterwards we head towards Kasserine (القصرين) driving 30 km on a road flanked by arid and uncultivated land, rarely interrupted by irrigated plots of land for olive plantation.

We are getting closer to the area where, in January 2011, the revolution (SIDI BOUZID) began. We arrive at the industrial plant SNCPA, (Société Nationale de Cellulose et de papier Alfa). We are guided by the General Director and by the Head of the Research Laboratories, and we walk through the entire manufacturing process, climbing up, in slight fear of our own safety, to the top of the plant. We are told that the many other plants located in adjacent areas are similar but that the one we are visiting utilises exclusively Alfa to manufacture paper pulp. The production is exported mainly to Japan, even though Japanese buyers have never come close to this remote region of Tunisia nor to the plant. The particular paper obtained by the transformation of Alfa apparently has properties of elevated permeability and very high absorptive capacities.

The process utilises soda, chlorine at very high temperature. The following day at the seminar in Gafsa , after Artes presented the Alliance and Ginestra Valley_nzymes4future projects, we had a long talk with the director about the great interest that these experiences could present for these territories. We will talk about new models of rural development based on the creation of infrastructures for advanced research, specialising in environmental and industrial biotechnologies and the revival of ancient arts and crafts.

The plant employs 200 workers, and clearly does not meet standards that would guarantee the safety of workers and of the environment. It appears to be in a state of decay.

To bring together expertise and financial resources in this territory would set a great example that could allow for further production of non-polluting enterprises. By creating links between the world of agriculture, science, technology, art and design, we hope to generate an environment conducive to the creation of new jobs.

THE SEMINAR AND THE ART EXIBITION WITH ALFA FIBRE.

After the visit to the plant, we continue towards Gafsa (قفصة), 112 Km southwards of Kasserine, in order to arrive in time for the seminar opening, scheduled for the following day.

We take a short break at the hotel, and we are ready for the opening of a design tapestry exhibition at the Maison de la Culture, created with Alfa fibre by the artist Samira Missaoui. We are in the presence of the Dean of the University of Gafsa, a team of professors from the Science Faculty and members of the local government.

The day after Wednesday, April 23rd, at the end of the seminar we take a tour in the research labs and we have a traditional Tunisian meal at the University cafeteria.

The major topic of the seminar is the shrub of Alfa that is, (similar to the Spartium Junceum in Calabria in Italy), a resource which seems to have a symbolic meaning connected not only to the hope of economic improvement and a better quality of life but also to the social identity of the population in this inland area bordering Algeria.

The Alliance Project, the story of my long and strenuous work to unite ancient traditions with advanced research for the sustainable development of marginal regions such as Calabria, creates interest and stirs new energy.

I conclude with the wish to create a team to carry out the project, thus transforming the idea into reality.

Two young students, PhDs at the faculty of Science, stop me and leave me their contact cards, with a note on top: “for participating in Alliance”. When we join the committee at the end of the seminar, I look at the young students sitting in the first row and I invite them to raise their hands. We need their help in the commission.

THE CRAFTSMANSHIP NATIONAL FAIR AND THE MEETING WITH MINISTRIES’ GENERAL DIRECTIONS

We have no time to lose, we leave the hotel a day before we are scheduled to leave in order to prepare the visits and meetings at the Craftsmanship National Fair, which will take place in Tunis on Friday, April 25th. This is an excellent occasion to experience the value of the artistic heritage of this country. On this occasion, we have the chance to meet the highest executives of the Ministry of Commerce and Craftsmanship who have been solicited by the officials we encountered in Gafsa to participate.

That same day we also have a meeting at the Ministry of High Education and Research with Prof. Slim CHOURA, Advisor in Charge of the National Observatory for Science and Technology and a mechanical engineer who, in perfect English, introduces us to a member of his team, Dr. Kochle Malek, Director of the Bilateral Cooperation with the EU who speaks perfect Italian and five other languages.

We establish an understanding of common visions and areas for possible cooperation; we talk about Tunisia, a territory of three continents, and about the unique role that it could play in the integration of North and Sub Saharan Africa.

PÔLE DE COMPÉITIVITÉ DE SOUSSE

On Saturday 26th of April we attend a seminar in the Pépinière at ENISo (Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sousse), an “incubator” for more than 100 start-ups. During the seminar we are presented with entrepreneurial projects in the field of home automation. In the late morning we have a conversation with Prof. Zoubeir Tourki, the young and determined president of the National Engineering School of Sousse. We talk about his priorities: to institute training for home automation, science and advanced technologies, as well as methods and educational content that would guarantee the most effective way to connect university education and the entrepreneurial world. We also agreed upon fields in which we could cooperate as well as upon a short-term plan.

We finally enjoy a walk in the touristic port of Monastir, discussing our return to Bologna and how we can give value to the many encounters and experiences of our first visit to Tunisia.